The Eternal Legend
by TheMonsterGirl
Summary: At the final battle of the NPC Rebellion, Prince is faced with the most difficult decision of his life. Spare the Dictator and risk thousands back in real world or put an end to everything then and there? Unable to live with the blood of those innocents on his hands, he makes the difficult decision to leave Second Life forever. Prince is dead, but can Feng Lan really stay away?
1. The End of The End

**DISCLAIMER: All credit for 1/2 Prince, it's original ending/storyline and cast of characters go to the very talented Yu Wo.**

* * *

_The End of The End_

"I'm sorry."

The Blood Elf bit back his anguish and fury, jaw clenched and tears burning hot behind his glass resolve. His fingers tightened painfully around the hilt of a sword that felt foreign in his unmarred hands. It all felt so wrong, this was not the way things were supposed to be. Endings were meant to be happy, kings and overlords were meant to defy the odds, spit in the face of gods and sculpt the fates to their own designs.

The life drained out of the Dictator of Life's gentle gaze, his expression utterly serene as he succumbed to the inevitability of his own demise. He looked into the eyes of the creature he loved one last time and smiled.

And then he was gone. No one would remember, no one would know. _He _was the true hero here, but at the end of the day, players would be dancing over his grave and chanting the name of their proclaimed savior. They would _celebrate _his murder.

"I'm sorry."

"Prince..."

Lolidragon was at his side, she touched his shoulder softly. He knew she was speaking but he couldn't hear the words. He thought of Wicked and Gui. The pain of their loss still ached in his chest, the wound pulsed heavily and bled freely with nothing to staunch it.

But they would wake up, they would go on, hell they could even _start over _if they wanted to.

Not the Dictator of Life. Not the Four Heavenly Kings. They were gone forever and no one would ever see them justice.

"No."

"Prince?"

White knuckles, his bones felt like they were about to snap under the pressure of his grip on the stranger in his hands. His tears had dried and the fire burned in his veins. He sought out his friends' worrying gaze one last time and each one of their faces was like another stake driven straight through the beating lump of flesh hidden deep beneath his breastplate.

_Please understand._

"ND Ultimate Techique: Activate."

"Prince!"

* * *

_One year later…_

"Hey SIS!"

Yang Ming expertly sidestepped the small barrage of pillows-turned-deadly-weapons as he charged into his sister's room, his voice purposely raised to a rather… obnoxious volume.

"_You_..."

A nearly visible aura of pure malice crackled, dark and sinister, around the frumpy looking figure rising out of a pile of twisted pink bedsheets.

"Morning!" Yang Ming chirped, pulling up a shield as a rather vicious looking alarm clock made a beeline for his face.

"Ow," his protective barrier complained loudly.

"Oi, nice going, stupid sister. I don't know why Zhuo-dage keeps bothering himself to get such a violent woman every morning. Good luck finding a husband with that kind of attitude–"

"OUT!"

Faced with a crabby twin wielding a much more intimidating looking lamp, Yang Ming weighed his options before beating a hasty retreat… but not before pulling one last, annoying face at his sister.

The door fell shut with a quiet click, leaving the remaining two in relative peace.

Feng Lan took a moment to glare daggers at her closed bedroom door before her attention was drawn back to the latest (and repeated) victim of the siblings' perpetual war. "Oh, Zhuo-gege, I'm so sorry!" She hopped out of bed and trotted over to the young man nursing what was sure to be a rather fine bruise centered perfectly behind his bangs.

Ling Bin shrugged and grinned a forgiving smile. "At least it wasn't the fish bowl this time."

Feng Lan frowned but didn't say anything, having long since given up trying to get the boy to hold her to her faults. She stood on her toes and brushed his hair away from his forehead, fingers ghosting over the angry red skin carefully.

"We ought to get some ice on this," she announced before flitting off to the kitchen to collect a cold compress, she shot her brother a dirty look as he lounged on the couch like a lazy child watching morning cartoons.

"Here." She wrapped the pack in a small cloth and pressed it against the abused flesh gently. "Hold this here."

Ling Bin did as instructed as the girl took a step back, still looking rather guilty.

"It's fine," he soothed, ruffling her already mussed hair. "I think I'll live."

Lan gave him a bit of a sour look but decided to drop it. She grabbed a few of her morning supplies from a nearby chair and started towards the bathroom, tossing her head over her shoulder briefly to inform him that she would be getting ready and to make himself comfortable.

"You can lie down on the bed for a while and rest if you like," she suggested before disappearing into clean white tile and the promise of a nice hot shower.

Things between her and her childhood friend had been a bit strange since… well, for the past year or so. Where Zhuo Ling Bin had always gone out of his way to spend time with her, walk her around university, tag along on the odd recreational outing, so on, somewhere along the way he'd become a constant in her daily routine.

Almost overnight, he had started showing up every morning to drag her sorry butt out of bed, he walked her to and from the city transport every day, met her in the hall after classes, took lunch with her and dinner most nights. They studied together, went grocery shopping together, laughed together, and generally just did well… everything together.

She wasn't complaining at all. Zhuo-gege had become a real grounding force in her life… Back on her worst days (the days she really didn't like to think about), where her heart sat so painfully heavy in her chest she thought she would suffocate under its weight, Zhuo-gege had been the one that pulled her back up on her feet and march her back out into the living world.

She honestly didn't know where she would be without him.

So that's why she tried… _really hard…_ not to think too deeply about the nature of their relationship. Of course, that didn't stop the whisperings and her brother's usual loud and rather rude commentary. But Feng Lan was just _not _ready to be thinking of her childhood friend in _that way_ and Zhuo Ling Bin didn't seem too hard-pressed to push the subject so she decided that it was fine to ignore it completely. At least for now.

Feng Lan plodded back into her room, dressed and ready to go, only to find a thoroughly amused Zhuo-gege examining the trinkets decorating the top of her bureau.

"You still have this?" he chuckled, gesturing to an old bottle filled with a myriad of shiny pebbles and snail shells.

"Well _yeah_, why would I ever get rid of that?" she smiled, remembering a day many years back, running through the woods as kids when they had happened upon the old glass beer bottle buried almost all the way up the neck in dirt. "They haven't made real glass bottles in_ years_. Since our parents were kids. That thing is practically a national treasure."

"Uh huh," he intoned, sounding _thoroughly_ convinced, smiling in that twinkly eyed way that made her stomach feel all fluttery and queasy at the same time.

"Yeah, well, go ahead and diss on my bottle. That thing is going to be worth a _fortune_ by the time I cash in on it." She gave him a devious smirk before twirling back towards the door.

As soon as the two entered the main living area, they were immediately met with an outpouring of hungry complaints from a certain couch-dwelling, cartoon-watching loudmouth.

"Stupid, it's the start of the new term today. We have to get there _early_." Lan snatched a foil wrapped protein bar off the counter and threw it at her twin with only slightly less than deadly force. "Go cry to Shui Han and see if she'll spare you some sympathy." _Fat chance._

And like that they were off. The trip to school was rather uneventful – save for the insistent whining from a certain unruly brother.

"Oh, hey, Xiao Lan, who's your professor for Intro to World Philosophy?" Ling Bin asked curiously. He'd been surprised that a girl like Feng Lan had even been anywhere near remotely interested in taking such a course. She was so restless and strong-willed, he wouldn't think she'd take much enjoyment in sitting through something as existential and wordy as philosophy.

"Eh?"

"The directory says it's located in the Literature building."

"Oh," Feng Lan muttered distractedly… the campus sure was a lot more confusing than she remembered, she was sure she would get lost trying to find her classes. "Uhh, I don't really know, I just kind of glanced at my schedule and the hall numbers last night. Let me check."

She dug around in her bag for a moment before producing the crumpled and uncrumpled, folded and torn little roster that outlined the new term for her. "Let's see, let's see… Mathematics, Science, Literature… Intro to– "

She cut off with a tiny squeak, her skin growing paler as she read and reread the name listed on her paper.

"Lan?"

"Ah, ahaha… hah." Feng Lan finally looked up from the little sheet of paper, meeting her companion's concerned gaze, "Well, it's funny you ask."

Ling Bin raised an inquisitive brow.

"It looks like..."

"Yeah?"

"Well, as it were..."

"..."

"That is to say..."

"Xiao Lan."

She scratched the back of her head nervously, not sure if she was more anxious because it was Zhuo-gege she was talking about this with or if it were just the subject itself. She decided to just cut to the chase. "It looks like Gui is back from his sabbatical."

Even just saying the name made the back of her throat itch like an old prisoner was trying to claw its way back to freedom.

Needless to say, Zhuo Ling Bin did not look thoroughly pleased. A number of emotions, some darker than others, flashed across his face before he seemed to force himself to settle on 'sympathetic'. "Do you want me to stay?"

Feng Lan shook her head, her thoughts growing distant and clumsy.

"No, that's okay. It should be fine, I've wanted to talk to him for a while now anyway."

Her friend didn't appear very happy but he didn't argue. His animosity towards the literature professor was never something they took much pleasure in discussing and it usually started a pretty heated debate. Hell be the day, the ex-warrior actually found herself on the side _defending _the moron.

"Actually, I think I might go in early. Better to get it out of the way now or I won't be able to concentrate." Feng Lan shook off her nerves in favor of some of that steadfast determination she was infamous for and turned, bid her friend a quick farewell, and started making her way back towards the lecture hall, squashing every little nagging fear that begged to drag down her heels.

Really this was something she had wanted to do almost a year ago. She _owed _this to him and it didn't sit well with her to leave her obligations buried under her own problems.

Despite her angry words to him that day, she had never meant to break her promise. He needed to know, whether he still cared for her or not after learning the truth, he deserved to know. Even if things hadn't turned out the way they did, she would have determined at that moment, the moment where he'd bound her in a way that he shouldn't have been able to, that he deserved to know the person he loved so deeply wasn't the person he was seeing before him.

After the… _incident…_ Xiao Lan had been so paralyzed with grief she hadn't been able to bring herself to even get out of bed, let alone attend classes where she would see him and be able to explain herself.

After returning from her own leave of absence, she'd come back to discover that the professor Min Gui Wen had been issued a forced sabbatical after having a "hysteric episode" on school grounds.

She'd never been able to gain much insight on the specifics of what had happened, but she didn't need to be told that it had something to do with Prince.

Call it cowardice, but she couldn't bring herself to try to seek him out through alternative means.

Maybe he'd finally moved on?

Lan's brow furrowed. Somehow the idea was a bit disheartening and she couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why. Maybe it was because Gui was still so firmly rooted in her memories of _then _versus _now_. The idea that Gui had really let go of Prince put a certain sense of finalization to her departure from the world she had loved so dearly, and as much as she clung to that conclusion, she wasn't sure she was entirely ready for it to be real.

Settling things with Gui would be her last dealing in anything directly related to Second Life.

She came to the door that led to the room and she hesitated. How should she approach him? Like Prince or like Feng Lan? It seemed like a silly question, they were both inherently _her_, but then, around him at least, she'd turned them into two completely different entities.

Prince, captain of the Odd Squad and Overlord of the Central Continent, would stomp in, place a few choice kicks in a few select spots, and tell the bard to promptly get his head out of his ass. Student Feng Lan might take a slightly more… reserved approach.

She decided it might be best to walk the line.

Tapping on the door lightly to alert her quarry of her presence, the girl pushed her way into the room. What she found wasn't quite what she was expecting.

While _Gui _had always been a bundle of emotional ups and downs, Professor Min always exuded a rather collected atmosphere. Calculated, controlled, visibly relaxed, Feng Lan had always found it curious how completely different he could be from his in-game counterpart. So it was strange, finding him with his hands buried in his hair, eyes wild and desk a mess of loose papers and various other office supplies.

She cleared her throat as she stepped closer to her one-time comrade.

His eyes swung up to hers, almost frantic in their haste, and she had to bite back the sudden wave of nausea that swept over her twitching stomach.

He seemed confused for a beat before something seemed to click by the way his expression suddenly cleared, a strained smile pulling up the corners of his lips as he straightened stiffly. "Student Feng Lan, what a pleasant surprise." Min Wen forced a tense chuckle. "I wasn't really expecting any visitors this early," he admitted gesturing to the chaos that was his desk.

His demeanor very thinly veiled the unspoken request that she make this venture quick.

Feng Lan glared at him briefly, a look that seemed to take him a bit off guard, barely resisting the urge to attempt collaring him for the insinuation that she was in the way. She doubted it would be anywhere near as effective as it was in Second Life anyway.

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

She watched as his gaze flitted nervously to a small picture frame seated safely away from the rest of the clutter, his fingers tapped impatiently. He stifled a tiny huff before sliding it closer. She was pretty sure she caught a glimpse of white hair. "What is it?"

"Well, I guess it's actually something I wanted to tell you."

He seemed confused and perhaps a bit annoyed. "I'm sorry, but does this have anything to do with academics? If not –"

"Shut up, Gui," Xiao Lan rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as he balked at her sudden crass.

The professor bristled at the girl's blatant disrespect. He opened his mouth, probably to chew her out for speaking so informally with teacher, but was cut off once more.

"I came here to tell you I'm Prince."

_That _shut him up.

"Or, I _was_."

His teeth clicked together as he sucked in a sharp breath, his fingers were like claws around that tiny, fragile picture frame. The guy looked like a cat that had just been doused with a bucket of ice water.

Feng Lan felt for him.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, "For taking so long, I mean. I always intended to keep my promise but… some things came up that made that hard to do."

She looked up at him with all the memories they shared together, good and bad, exhilarating and infuriating, heartfelt and tragic. She wasn't sure if she still wanted him to care for her as he did Prince, she wasn't entirely sure if she was deserving of that after all she'd put him through, but at the same time she realized she didn't want to lose him entirely.

Maybe that was selfish, maybe it didn't make sense (what was Min Gui Wen to her other than a literature professor, after all).

But it's what she wanted and when she looked into his eyes she saw something different.

It was _anger_.

The professor got to his feet. He didn't yell, he didn't knock things off his already haphazard work station, he didn't throw down his chair or try grab her by the front of her shirt. He just looked down at her with the coldest eyes she had ever seen.

It was the first and only time Feng Lan could honestly say she was afraid of the usually gentle Gui. A shiver ran up the length of her spine.

"Get out."

"Gui, I –"

"_Get_. _Out_."

The student backed up a step, her instincts for once leaning more towards flight… before all the fight came roaring back to her blood with a resounding crackle of menace. _How dare he! _All she had gone through, all the heartache and torture and guilt, and he, the one that had clung to her like an annoying, whiny tumor was going to spit venom back at her apology?

Oh, _hell _no.

"What the hell, Guileastos?!" she growled, standing on her toes and leaning as far over the desk as her slight frame allowed.

"Don't you _dare_..." his breathing was heavy, the sound of cracking glass pinched her ears. "Don't you _dare _call me by that name."

Feng Lan reeled back, clutching her face as though she'd been physically struck. Could that goofy, gooey lump of a bard have really come to resent her so much?

"Don't you dare. _I know… _His Majesty..."

"Gui?"

"Stop jerking me around! Do you think I'm some kind of idiot?! How many more of you are going to come in here pretending to be someone you're not because… What because you think it's _funny_?!"

Realization dawned on her like the first blinding rays of light filtering through the darkness following a solar eclipse. "Wait a second. You don't _believe me_?!" The second portion of her words were a barely comprehensible screech of pure rage.

The man didn't even flinch. He scoffed. "I _know _Prince. I'm in love with Prince. How desperate do you think I am that I'd just fall for your obvious lies?"

"Oh, you have _got_ to be shitting me..."

"Now, if you're quite done, I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave, Miss Lan. I've got a lot of work to do in preparation for my first lecture today."

"Gui, you're making a real ass of yourself here. If you'd just sit down for a minute and listen, I could –"

The literature professor raised his hand, effectively cutting her off. All his turbulent emotions had finally been reigned in, once again the picture of professionalism, but Xiao Lan could feel his words seething just below the surface. "I don't want to hear it. This discussion is over."

The girl was practically shaking, she was so mad. And to top it off she was hurt… was Gui really so blinded by Prince's good looks that he couldn't look past her gender to see it was _her_ personality that lie beneath the elf's handsome face?

"You want to know what? Fine." Lan shouldered her bag and turned, shrugging snobbishly. "I tried. If you want to keep living in your delusions that's your problem, _Guileastos_."

She moved to leave then, determined to walk away from the world's most pathetic, moronic excuse of a genius with her head held high and only the very slightest twinge of disappointment in her heart.

Until…

"Oh, and Miss Lan?"

The girl stopped, looking back at him with as bored an expression as she could master.

"It may be in your best interest to transfer out of my Intro to World Philosophy class." He sat at his desk, hands folded seriously as he leveled her with a very measured gaze.

Her eyes widened and she blinked. Did he just…?

"Did you just _threaten_ me?"

Min Gui Wen waved a dismissive hand. "Of course not!" he replied lightly, almost sounding like his normal, cheerful self.

"But allow me to pose to you an important philosophical question: Are you willing to bet your GPA on that?"

The grin he flashed at her was downright _evil_.

She grit her teeth, breathing in short, angry puffs as she deliberated her next move. Like hell she was going to give him the satisfaction of having the last word. But it didn't seem like there was much she would be able to do aside from casting empty threats. She was a student and he a professor. He held _all_ the power here.

An idea suddenly dinned in the back of her head and she smiled deviously. She stalked back towards the professor like a cat circling an injured bird.

Her hand struck out as she finally succumbed to the desire to haul the man up by the front of his shirt. He swallowed nervously, abruptly much less self-assured than he had been only moments before. He didn't even struggle to free himself.

The literature professor stared into the girl's eyes for what felt like a small eternity. He could almost detect small flecks of red in that terrifyingly familiar glare.

"Pr… ince…?" he squeaked, horror suddenly breaking over the man's entire form as a spark of hope lit in his eyes. _Oh gods, what have I done?_

Feng Lan's grin widened to the point it nearly looked as though she had fangs. "Rest assured, _Guileastos_. You will regret what you have said to me here today."

And then she dropped him and left. Her words still hanging over him in a confused daze as his grip on the broken frame finally loosened.

* * *

**AN: ****Gah! I am _so _excited about this story! I've been wanting to start this for the longest time, but could never get the introduction right. While not perfect, I think this finally does what I'm trying to say justice. Will be starting on chapter two immediately, so will hopefully be able to get it out fairly soon.**

**If you enjoyed this or would like leave your critique, I would be immensely grateful for a review :-)**


	2. Technical Assistance

**DISCLAIMER: All credit for 1/2 Prince, it's original ending/storyline and cast of characters go to the very talented Yu Wo.**

* * *

_Technical Assistance_

Feng Lan tapped her foot impatiently.

_Come on, come on…_

Her eyes darted around the darkened space, edged with paranoia. She felt like a kid with her hand in the cookie jar. Scratch that. She felt like someone who had decided to have their cake and eat it, too. Wait… Don't those two sayings mean the same thing? Why would someone come up with two pointlessly similar euphemisms for the same exact thing? They were -only slightly different. Maybe she was a dog chewing on an old bone? No, that didn't sound right.

But she was getting off-track.

_Come on!_

The girl growled in frustration, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring into the artificial blackness of the loading stage. The empty moderator's control panel hung rather pointlessly over her head with no body to occupy it.

"I don't have all night!" she barked.

She didn't know what she expected to happen because nothing did. The odd looking throne of plush cushions, wires, and various other cables remained stubbornly empty save for one glowing notification that floated above:

_Welcome to Second Life! All our servers are busy at the moment. A moderator will be with you as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience!_

Xiao Lan had been staring at the same gold luminescent sign for well over an hour now and no amount of insults, swearing, or creative death threats seemed to be convincing it to produce a GM for her. She'd briefly considered trying to launch herself up to the platform and try to hook herself into the odd avatar-making device, but she was currently without the in-game attributes that would have made such a feat possible.

The girl sighed, shoulders slumped. Maybe this was a sign that she really shouldn't be here after all…

Just as she had about convinced herself to abandon her latest warpath, a quick fizz of static light shimmered over the technical throne and a rather disheveled looking GM appeared, slouching in amongst the cables and wires that surrounded him.

"For the love of… _Three hours…_ _Just _to determine the shape a nose… Left my position at The World for _this_..."

He pulled off the odd looking helmet that kept him hooked into the game-making controls (something Xiao Lan didn't even know they could even do at this point of the game without getting booted from the server). He ran a hand through some unruly red curls, continuing his disgruntled mutterings for a few more moments before finally noticing the player at his feet.

The GM froze for an instant, eyes locked with the rather perturbed looking girl, before cursing loudly and throwing back on his helmet. He sat up perfectly straight and plastered a gorgeously fake smile across his face with practiced ease.

"Welcome player! Apologies for the extended delay, our servers were temporarily backed up with an inflow of new gamers just like you. I am the moderator that will be assisting you today in creating your new character. I look forward to helping you shape this important first step in your new Second Life!"

Feng Lan narrowed her eyes at the man, raising a brow and inclining her head to the side in disbelief.

The man held his blankly happy expression another beat through the silence before he deflated, chuckling nervously. "Okay, please don't tell my supervisor about me breaking character," he pleaded, giving her an adorably boyish pout.

Feng Lan grinned. At least they'd finally taken her suggestion about male eye-candy seriously. It was nice to not be immediately affronted with the beautiful, chesty female mascots game companies tended to employ.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." She winked and he cut her a dashing smile.

"Great," he laughed, "You wouldn't believe some of the crazy things you have to deal with helping people mold their characters all day long. And I do mean all day. Let me tell you, it's during the lighted hours that the real weirdos come out… you know, when most people are at their jobs or school. Plus they're almost always newbies which makes everything take longer because they have no idea _what _they're doing."

He stopped for a moment and blinked, then winced and looked back at his charge awkwardly. "And suddenly I'm really hoping you did not find that at all offensive."

"Seriously?" Xiao Lan made a show of looking thoroughly miffed before bursting out with laughter. Two minutes in and she was already being reminded that everyone in Second Life tended to be a bit more... colorful than real life allowed.

The moderator breathed a sigh of relief, the corners of his lips pulling up again.

"Okay, no more goofing off! Just a minute while I run the infrared and sound wave scans."

The GM's eyes fell shut as her body was enveloped in a pure white light. A few seconds passed in harmless silence while Feng Lan marveled at the warm feeling on her skin, humming softly to herself so the moderator wouldn't be forced to make awkward small talk to get the baseline on her vocal measures.

His brow furrowed and the warm feeling on her skin grew tingly. "That's odd… It seems like we already have portions of your data on file. Oh wait, there's a note here. Let me just –"

The light died out around her and the GM's eyes shot open, giddy excitement rolling off him in waves as he practically bounced in his seat.

"Oh my gosh, you're-!"

The redheaded bishie suddenly disappeared in a quick flash of static and Feng Lan was once again left alone in the underlit silence of the loading stage.

The girl giggled uneasily, glancing around the shadowed game tiles. "That was a little… ominous. Umm, hello?"

The GM control center remained predictably silent.

"I'd really like to make my character now, if that's not too much trouble."

Feng Lan groaned. This was quickly becoming rather tiring and she was once again left questioning if she should really be doing this.

Caught up in her musings as she was, she honestly didn't notice when the GM throne produced a new occupant. The delighted squeal reached her ears only half a second before she was tackled into submission by what she could only describe as a rather voluptuous chest with a person attached.

"PRINCE!"

"Shui… Han… can't… _breathe_…!" Feng Lan gasped, desperately trying to dislodge her face from the pillowy death her near-sister was apparently trying to inflict upon her.

"Whoops, sorry!" The hidden GM released the girl, backing up only a step as she nearly danced in place. "What do you expect when you show up without any kind of warning? I've _missed _you!"

Feng Lan shook her head, pressing a palm to her forehead to fight down the oncoming headache. "You just saw me for dinner _two_ nights ago."

"Noo," the thief waved her finger under the girl's nose, "I just saw _X__ia__o Lan _for dinner two nights ago. _Prince _hasn't set foot back in Second Life in over a year. Despite a fierce outcry from the public at his absence and a very generous offer from Long Industries to recreate his avatar to full caliber, I might add."

"Lolidragon," she warned, her expression grave.

The rambunctious GM pinched a face at her friend. "Fine. For legitimate personal reasons, but whatever. The pointis you're back!"

"Yes," Feng Lan nodded, uncharacteristically calm, "_I'm _back. Prince is not. He's dead."

"Oh, this is going to be great. I've been planning your big comeback pretty much since you went off the radar. This is going to be _massive_. I mean, people will literally be running wild in the streets. We'll probably have to hire a few heavies just too keep the castle from getting stormed… But to do that we'll have to draw from the defense budget…"

Lolidragon trailed off, muttering to herself the merits of asking Yu Lian directly for the funds or just going on her own private pillaging spree to cover the expenses.

"You're not listening..."

"Oooh, do you think your grand entrance should be during the Adventurers' Tournament or should we announce a concert with the remaining members of the Infinite Band?"

"Shui Han..."

"I want it to be something with flare, you know. Something that will keep the people talking about it for years."

"I don't think–"

"So many things to plan on such short notice~!"

"LOLIDRAGON!"

The thief paused in her scheming, slanting her companion with a rather peeved look. "What?"

"Prince is _not_ coming back. I am here –_temporaril__y–_to create a new character and settle a score. That's all."

The GM crossed her arms over her chest and groaned, throwing her head back in exasperation. "Oh, _come on_. Don't you think you've –"

"No."

"But it's not –"

"No."

Lolidragon glowered at the girl, stomping her foot and generally just looking very close to throwing an all-out tantrum before she finally threw her hands up in surrender. "Fine! Be a stubborn idiot. See what I care."

Feng Lan grinned, letting her know with absolutely no shred of doubt that she would do exactly that. She lifted her chin triumphantly as the thief turned from her to grumble over her annoyance of having all the 'fun' ruined. She wondered briefly if her friend was going to 'accidentally' drop her from the server in retribution, but decided she was probably pretty safe. After all…

"You said something about a 'score to settle,'" the older girl turned back to her, a familiar, mischievous glint sparking behind curious amber eyes, "What exactly did you mean?"

Lan gave her a positively diabolic smile. "This is the part you're gonna like."

* * *

"Well, I think that about does it!" Lolidragon fell back in the plush, floating throne with a sigh of relief.

You'd think since they'd been through this process once before it would have been a cake walk, but for some reason it had taken even _longer_ than the first time. Feng Lan looked back to her new avatar and nodded in approval, her mouth turning up in a sly grin. "Yes, I think this will do nicely."

What looked back at her was almost a mirror image of herself. As much as it pained her, she'd decided to forgo the 30% beautification process. After going back and forth for nearly 4 hours, she decided her intentions for this particular character would be better served if it looked as much like her as possible. The only difference between herself and the avatar standing before her was the short, messy hair, delicate elfin ears, and deep, crimson eyes.

Shockingly, she still looked a great deal like Prince even without his signature silver locks, just distinctly more feminine in appearance. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she would have suspected Lolidragon might have just thrown her old body to An Rui, let him chew on it for a few minutes, and spit it back out in cursed form.

"Are you really sure about this?" the hidden GM asked, unusually sober for someone always in the midst of one prank or another. "If you go through with this you can't change your mind later. The company was willing to bend the rules as a token of gratitude to those of us that participated in the coup at Flower City, but if you do this now, there will be no getting your old body back. Prince really will be gone forever."

Feng Lan stared into the blood red gaze of her avatar, the old ache in her chest pattering on painfully. But her mind had been made up long ago. She nodded her head.

"Prince died with the Dictator of Life."

Lolidragon allowed a brief, saddened smile to ghost across her lips before reverting back to her usual flippancy. "So, did you have a name in mind?" she quipped, leaning her chin into the palm of her hand.

"Eh?" Feng Lan scratched her head, not having thought that far in advance. "I'm sure there's nothing good left at this point. I only mean to play for a little while anyway. I guess DragonYouthLover999–"

"Absolutely _not_!" the thief cracked her over the head with a hard wooden pole.

"OW! Where did you even _get _that?!"

"Quiet you, that's not important!" Lolidragon smacked the stick against her palm menacingly, leaning over the girl like some kind of motherly tyrant of a disciplinarian. "Whether or not you're Prince, you _are _Prince, Missy. Parading around with a name like that is an insult to your legacy and I will _not _have it. As the GM that created Prince's body, I take personal offense!"

"But what does it matter? No one's gonna know." Feng Lan rubbed at the sore spot on top of her head. Knowing Second Life's commitment to realism, she was sure to have a rather impressive goose egg.

"It matters!" the GM huffed, crossing her arms over her chest with finality. She took a moment to think, annoyance still buzzing in the air around her. "How about 'Legend'?"

"'Legend?'"

Lolidragon rolled her eyes in that wonderfully expressive 'you really are a complete moron' way.

"'Legend' as in _your _legend. The Legend of the Blood Elf, remember?"

Feng Lan made a face like she'd just licked the wrong end of a slime (not that they had any _right _end, but that was beside the point). "Isn't that a bit extravagant? Besides, how is a name like that even available?"

The thief was looking very close to losing her patience with the girl. "Whether or not you choose to acknowledge it, that's the way people think of you, Feng Lan. Prince's influence still affects things that happen in Second Life _today_. Your following is still just as huge, if not even bigger than it was the day you disappeared. I really don't think it's an exaggeration to call you a legend."

She smiled wickedly. "And as far as the actual name goes, there are _some _benefits to being a GM, you know. Most of us don't want to go walking around with dorky names like 'DragonYouthLover999–'"

"Hey!"

"– So we keep a reserve of screen names for the new recruits to choose from if they want. I don't think anyone's going to mind if I let you use one."

"You know, I'm starting to feel some déjà vu here." Feng Lan hung her head in defeat. Getting in a battle of wills with Lolidragon always seemed to leave her on the losing end of finish line. She rarely came out on top. "Do I get to decide anything here?"

"Of course! What continent would you like to be born on? Central I'm assuming, since –"

"The Northern Continent."

"What?! _Why_?"

The girl grinned, half just to spite her bossy friend. "If I'm going to do this, I want to do it right. I don't want any of you guys butting in or trying to help beyond what we've already decided. Besides," a troubled look passed over her face, "If I'm going to be back in-game anyway, there's some things I wanted to look into while I'm here and most of them revolve around the Northern Continent."

Lolidragon faltered, eyes narrowed and lips pressed into a hard line, before shrugging indifferently. "Okay, Northern Continent is is, then."

Feng Lan wasn't fooled. "Seriously, Shui Han, no meddling." She placed her hands on her hips and did her best to channel Yu Lian's most frightening 'shadow smile.'

"Say it with me, Lolidragon. No one from Odd Squad, Dark Phantom… _anyone _from the Infinite City will be showing up to either keep tabs on me _or_ help me along the way."

The thief sighed dramatically, rolling her head back like a petulant teenager as she reiterated the oath in the most condescending voice possible. "No one from Odd Squad, Dark Phantom, or anyone else from Infinite City will be sent to either keep tabs on and/or help Xiao Lan along her journey to seriously rend one poor bard's soon-to-be seriously sorry ass."

The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Or Legend!" the GM ground out, looking very close to kicking some of the finer mechanisms of her floating throne.

Feng Lan finally smiled, her shoulders relaxing considerably. Already she could feel the excitement beginning to hum through her veins. The questionably justifiable excuse of beating Professor Min Gui Wen's alter-ego to a bloody, unidentifiable puddle of freshly refined bard-juice notwithstanding… She was finally going back. Her second home, a new life, her old friends. The anxious part of her ringed with the reminder that it was _just _temporary, but a louder section of her mind was just dizzy with anticipation.

"Okay," she nodded.

"Okay?" her friend watched her with lighted eyes.

"Yeah."

Lolidragon grinned as the girl and her avatar were thrown together violently, their forms molding into a single character as the body began to simultaneously fade from the loading center. "Good to have you back, _Prince!_" she called teasingly just before the player was pulled from the server.

She turned back to the GM control panel. For the first time in a long while, everything felt exactly as it should be, or at least as though it were headed in that direction.

"No one _from _Infinite City, huh?" the thief mused lazily. "I think I can work with that."

* * *

_Back in-game..._

"Lolidragon! Lolidragon!"

Guileastos was in a panic. Sheer. Blind. Unadulterated panic.

He was there. He had been _there. _In real life. _She _had been there… and he'd messed it all up. Everything. Every little thing. Everything he had been planning and fantasizing about for the past year had been absolutely shredded, torn, and thrown to the winds because he had decided to be a perfect _imbecile_.

The person he still loved with every ounce of his soul, the one he knew he could never mistake for anyone else. The person he had pined for, for one long, hard year had come to him to reconcile. To make amends, to _apologize…_ and what did he do? Oh, only call her a liar. Only announce his superiority, his divine purity of heart, and then _threaten_ her for daring assume her own name.

He had screwed up in the worst possible way. He had alienated the one person that mattered most to him in the world.

So, Gui did what he always did when spiraling into his worst Prince-related despair.

He went crying to Lolidragon.

Certainly, it had been a long, long time since the halls of the Infinite Palace rang with the bard's tortured, lovesick wails. Despite a few rough weeks after the Rebellion, the city's architect had done unexpectedly well pulling himself together and continuing on with life. He would occasionally mope or disappear to wander the streets of his beloved overlord's capitol city, but by and large, he managed to keep himself from letting his grief consume him.

He had the support of all his friends to thank for that.

It didn't come as a surprise to him as he turned the corner into fortress's largest meeting hall to be met with several concerned stares from said aforementioned friends. But none of them were the one he was looking for.

"Loligdragon!" he howled, bordering on the edge of hysterics. His knees quivered with the effort it took to keep from crumpling into blubbering ball remorse.

"Is something wrong with Gui-gege?" A tiny, pigtailed necromancer of a celestial was the first at his side, tugging at his sleeve and generally looking rather upset for him.

The man tried his very best to collect himself for the sake of his friends. "I… I –" he choked before bursting into a fresh wave of tears and pulled a confused Doll into a watery hug her NPC bodyguard would not approve of.

He PM'd the missing thief desperately. '_Lolidragon, please! I need to talk to you n__ooo__ow!'_

"Gui," a large, furry hand settled on his shoulder like the anchor of reason, "Lolidragon is not here. She logged off suddenly a few hours ago and hasn't been online since."

The beast man leveled the bard with a look that was equal parts sympathetic and chastising. He worried for his friend, but certainly the demon had created quite a scene for anyone who had been unfortunate enough to have business at the palace. Had he been any less distraught, he was sure his wife or Swan Beauty or worse –_both–_ would be closing in on him for his disruptive conduct.

With the realization that his confidant in all things Prince was nowhere to be found, the bard unceremoniously deflated, collapsing to the ground in an emotional heap as his wailing subsided into noiseless hics.

His friends circled in around him, their faces all mirrored in various degrees of concern.

"What's going on?" Ugly Wolf inquired once he determined the man wasn't at risk of bursting into another uncontrollable fit despair.

Guileastos managed to lift his head, misery nearly rolling off him like water, soaking into every fiber of his being. He didn't know what to do. He was so lost. He just wanted someone to talk to, someone that would be able to tell him _what_ to do and how to fix what he'd broken.

"Prince… he –"

Everybody in the room straightened at their liege lord's name, the air suddenly heavy and bated.

But the bard was interrupted as a certain female member of the group logged back on and strolled into the middle of the gathering, whistling a happy little tune, looking quite pleased with herself and much like she had just swallowed a whole plate of roasted meat-filling.

"Hey, sorry I took off like that. Had something come up that I had to take care of."

The hidden GM took a moment to absorb the scene in front of her. Gui huddled up on the floor, looking for all his worth like someone just told him puppies didn't exist as every other member of Odd Squad hovered over him with varying expressions of worry… and then she did the oddest thing.

She started to giggle.

First quietly, her shoulders shaking as she fought to conceal her amusement, but she quickly gave up and devolved into a good, rib cracking bough of laughter.

The others stared at her in numb silence, some of the less docile members having the sense to look affronted by the girl's apparent delight at their ally's distress.

Lolidragon wiped her eyes as she finally got over whatever it was she found just so damn funny and moved to join her friends, pushing into the center of the circle to kneel next to the confused bard.

She patted the man on the head and sighed. "Oh Gui, you've really done it this time."

"I… don't understand," the demon blanched.

The girl hummed, unconvinced, then smiled. "Prince sends his regards. He wanted me to let you know he'll be seeing you again _very_ soon."

Despite any combination of begging, bribing and/or blackmailing, not a single member of Infinite City's standing officials could get even one more word from the thief that night.

* * *

**AN: First off, I want to take the time to thank all my wonderful reviewers from the previous chapter! As a writer and someone that struggles with inspiration, it is monumentally encouraging to know you guys are interested in my work :-) This probably would have been delayed another week if I didn't know you guys were patiently waiting for the next installment. **

**Thank you as well to anyone that took the time to point out my mistakes in chapter one. I usually institute a two-day editing period before publishing anything, but I was so excited about getting this rolling I kinda skipped over that (something I did for this chapter as well) -embarrassed-. I've since gone back and corrected any errors I could find/reworded a few awkward phrasings. Nothing major, but it reads a bit more smoothly now.**

**Anyway, not much to say on the chapter itself. Except I came _very _close to naming Feng Lan's new character 'Fable' instead of 'Legend.' I decided I felt the latter fit in with the title more and Lan is better off with a less feminine alias.**

**Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed! If you have the time available, please consider leaving a review, it really helps me pump these things out faster and tells me what I need to improve on :-)**


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